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Texas veterinarian indicted for husband's death

Posted July 1, 2005

A Tom Green County, Texas, grand jury in May indicted Dr. Wendi Mae Davidson for the murder of her husband, Air Force Sgt. Michael Severance.

Dr. Davidson reported her husband missing in early January. Police later arrested Dr. Davidson after her brother informed investigators she told him she had found Severance dead in bed and, fearing a family member had killed him, dumped the body in a local stock tank. Police recovered the body in March.

Preliminary autopsy results revealed phenobarbital and pentobarbital in Severance's body. A final autopsy report wasn't ready as of press time in June. Dr. Davidson could face additional charges depending on the final results, police said.

A police search of Dr. Davidson's San Angelo, Texas, clinic found records indicating that she had administered phenobarbital to a dog. The dog's owner said the dog was not injected with the drug, however.

The grand jury also indicted Dr. Davidson on two counts of tampering with or fabricating evidence—one for disposing of her husband's body and another for trying to destroy or conceal a veterinary treatment record pertaining to the case.

Tom Davidson, Dr. Davidson's attorney (not related), said his client has passed critical parts of a lie-detector test, including questions such as "Did you kill your husband?" and "Do you know who did?"

Dr. Davidson is free on $200,000 bail while awaiting a pretrial hearing.